Yesterday the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) announced massive, massive cuts to Feed-in Tariffs (FITs) - subsidies for solar, hydro and wind power. This is completely and totally stupid. Here are just eight reasons why.

Is Solar Impulse an extravagant toy, built on a whim? Nobody expects photovoltaic to move transport aircraft. Positive spill-over may concern some technical innovation, so it's no coincidence that Google, Swisscom and other big technological industries are among its sponsors. But a viable business model is not the point.

Facebook has successfully tested solar powered drones that will connect over a billion people to the Internet. The company will become the gateway keeper to the web, a company that both creates the pipes and controls what flows through them.

More than two years after the devastating Fukushima nuclear disaster, the largest nuclear accident since Chernobyl, the repercussions continue in Europe. Inevitably, the episode has prompted renewed debate in Brussels and EU countries about nuclear power.

Transparency is the key, as is a strong system to support the principles for how MPs and officials deal with the outside world. Mercer's wrongdoing has also focused attention on All Party Groups. There is nothing wrong with having an All Party Parliamentary Group for Fiji, and it goes without saying that no MP should take money for setting one up.